Spacewalkers Complete Installation and Experiment Work

Spacewalkers Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev wrapped up their spacewalk at 5:33 p.m. EDT after 7 hours and 23 minutes of installation and experiment tasks outside the Russian segment of the International Space Station.

They installed a communications system antenna on the conical section of the Zvezda service module. They spent a couple of hours on that task which included connecting cables, removing protective covers and photographing their work.

After competing that task and a few minutes of rest, the duo moved on to relocate a Russian experiment on Zvezda. The duo spent about an hour moving the Obstanovka experiment hardware which monitors the plasma and magnetic environment that surrounds the space station. They took pictures of the work area for later analysis on the ground.

Their next task had them translating to a crew quarters window on Zvezda where they swabbed samples for a test experiment. After a few minutes of rest during orbital night the spacewalkers removed and jettisoned an orbital debris experiment (MPAC) and a materials exposure experiment (SEED) attached to Zvezda’s large diameter aft section.

MPAC (Micro-Particles Capturer) and SEED (Space Environment Exposure Device) were two experiments developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency for installation on Zvezda.

A sunrise is seen from the International Space Station a few minutes before the beginning of Thursday's spacewalk. Image Credit: NASA TV

The spacewalkers final job was the relocation of a payload cargo boom on Zvezda. The relocation task sets up the area for future payload attachment work.

Skvortsov and Artemyev wrapped up their spacewalk by visually inspecting their spacesuits, wiping their gloves and jettisoning their towels. They then collected and inventoried their tools before entering Pirs and closing the hatches to officially end the first Expedition 40 spacewalk.

The last spacewalk occurred April 23 during Expedition 39. Astronauts Steve Swanson and Rick Mastracchio spent one hour and 36 minutes outside the station replacing a failed Multiplexer/Demultiplexer backup computer on the S0 truss.